Rita Mae Brown
| birth_place = Hanover, Pennsylvania | death_date = | occupation = novelist, poet, screenwriter, activist | nationality = American | period = | genre = | subject = | movement = | influences = | influenced = | website = }} Rita Mae Brown (born November 28, 1944) is an American poet, novelist, and screenwriter. . Life Youth Brown was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Florida. In the 1960s, Brown attended Broward Community College and the University of Florida but transferred.Related by Brown in Starting from Scratch, Rita Will, and her website bio, retrieved May 24, 2007. She allows that the University administration denies that it had anything to do with integration. She moved to New York and attended New York University, where she earned a degree in classics and English. Later she received another degree in cinematography from the New York School of Visual Arts. Brown earned a Ph.D. in literature from Union Institute & University in 1976, and holds a doctorate in political science from the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C.Related by Brown in her autobiography Rita Will and Starting from Scratch. Political activism In the late 1960s, Brown turned her attention to politics. She became active in the American Civil Rights Movement, the anti-war movement, the Gay Liberation movement and the feminist movement. She took an administrative position with the fledgling National Organization for Women, but angrily resigned with Michela Griffo in January 1970 over Betty Friedan's anti-gay remarks and NOW's attempts to distance itself from lesbian organizations. She played a leading role in the "Lavender Menace" zap of the Second Congress to Unite Women on May 1, 1970, which protested about Friedan's remarks and the exclusion of lesbians from the women's movement.Related by Brown in her autobiography Rita Will. In the early 1970s, she became a founding member of The Furies Collective, a lesbian feminist newspaper collective which held that heterosexuality was the root of all oppression. She has said, "I don't believe in straight or gay. I really don't. I think we're all degrees of bisexual." "Rita Mae Brown: Loves Cats, Hates Marriage", Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine, March 18 2008 Career Brown is best known for her 1st novel Rubyfruit Jungle. Published in 1973, it dealt with lesbian themes in an explicit manner unusual for the time. Brown is also a mystery writer and screenwriter Since 1990 Brown has "coauthored" with her cat, Sneaky Pie Brown, a cozy mystery series featuring the feline character Mrs. Murphy. Brown has written about her passions for horses, hounds, and American fox hunting in her fiction and non-fiction for years (Bingo, Riding Shotgun, later Mrs. Murphy books). Brown is also active in a local fox hunt club.Rita Mae Brown Website Bio, retrieved May 24, 2007. In 2000 she began another mystery series, centered around a fox hunting club in Virginia led by "Sister" Jane Arnold. Private life As of 2012 Brown lived outside Charlottesville, Virginia. Brown has been in relationships with tennis player Martina Navratilova, actress/writer Fannie Flagg, socialite Judy Nelson, and politician Elaine Noble. Brown enjoys American fox hunting and is master of her Fox Hunt Club. She has also played polo, and started the women-only Blue Ridge Polo Club.Rita Mae Brown Website Bio, retrieved May 24, 2007 Recognition In 1982, Brown was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program for I Love Liberty. In popular culture *The protagonist Susan in the film Educating Rita changes her name to Rita after Rita Mae Brown. Publications Poetry *''The Hand That Cradles the Rock.'' New York University Press, 1971. *''Songs to a Handsome Woman.'' 1973. *''Poems''. Crossing Press, 2007. Novels *''Rubyfruit Jungle'' (1973) ISBN 0-553-27886-X *''In Her Day'' (1976) ISBN 0-553-27573-9 *''Six of One'' ISBN 0-553-38037-0 *''Southern Discomfort'' ISBN 0-553-27446-5 *''Sudden Death'' ISBN 0-553-26930-5 *''High Hearts'' ISBN 0-553-27888-6 *''Bingo'' ISBN 0-553-38040-0 (a sequel to Six of One) *''Venus Envy'' ISBN 0-553-56497-8 *''Dolley: A Novel of Dolley Madison in Love and War'' ISBN 0-553-56949-X *''Riding Shotgun'' ISBN 0-553-76353-9 *''Loose Lips'' (2000) ISBN 0-553-38067-2 (set between Six of One and Bingo) *''Alma Mater'' (2002) ISBN 0-345-45532-0 *''The Sand Castle'' (2008) ISBN 0-8021-1870-4 Mrs. Murphy mystery series #''Wish You Were Here'' (1990) ISBN 978-0-553-28753-0 #''Rest in Pieces'' (1992) ISBN 978-0-553-56239-2 #''Murder at Monticello'' (1994) ISBN 978-0-553-57235-3 #''Pay Dirt'' (1995) ISBN 978-0-553-57236-0 #''Murder, She Meowed'' (1996) ISBN 978-0-553-57237-7 #''Murder on the Prowl'' (1998) ISBN 978-0-553-57540-8 #''Cat on the Scent'' (1999) ISBN 978-0-553-57541-5 #''Pawing Through the Past'' (2000) ISBN 978-0-553-58025-9 #''Claws and Effect'' (2001) ISBN 978-0-553-58090-7 #''Catch as Cat Can'' (2002) ISBN 978-0-553-58028-0 #''The Tail of the Tip-Off'' (2003) ISBN 978-0-553-58285-7 #''Whisker of Evil'' (2004) ISBN 978-0-553-58286-4 #''Cat's Eyewitness'' (2005) ISBN 978-0-553-58287-1 #''Sour Puss'' (2006) ISBN 978-0-553-58681-7 #''Puss n' Cahoots'' (2007) ISBN 978-0-553-58682-4 #''The Purrfect Murder'' (2008) ISBN 978-0-553-58683-1 #''Santa Clawed'' (2008) ISBN 978-0-553-80706-6 #''Cat of the Century'' (2010) ISBN 978-0-553-80707-3 #''Hiss of Death'' (2011) ISBN 978-0-553-80708-0 #''The Big Cat Nap'' (4/3/2012) ISBN 978-0-345-53044-8 Sister Jane Arnold mystery series *''Outfoxed'' (2000) *''Hotspur'' (2002) *''Full Cry'' (2003) *''The Hunt Ball'' (2005) *''The Hounds and the Fury'' (2006) *''The Tell-Tale Horse'' (2007) *''Hounded to Death'' (2008) Non-fiction Brown has published the non-fiction Starting from Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual and the autobiographies Rita Will: Memoir of a Literary Rabble-Rouser and "Animal Magnetism - My Life with Creatures Great and Small." ISBN 978-0-345-51179-9 (0-345-51179-4)(2009) She has also published the tie-in Sneaky Pie's Cookbook (1999). Screenplays Her screenplay Slumber Party Massacre (1982) was a parody of the slasher genre, but the producers of the film decided to play it seriously. Other screenplays and teleplays include: *''Murder She Purred: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery'' (1998) (TV) *''Mary Pickford: A Life on Film'' (1997) *''The Woman Who Loved Elvis'' (1993) (TV) *''Rich Men, Single Women'' (1990) (TV) *''Me and Rubyfruit'' (1989) *''My Two Loves'' (1986) *''The Long Hot Summer'' (1985) *''The Slumber Party Massacre'' (1982) *''I Love Liberty'' (1982) See also *Feminist poets *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Audio / video * Video of Rita Mae Brown talking about her book, The Hounds and the Fury, and other topics - November 2006 ;Books *Rita Mae Brown at Amazon.com ;About *Author Factsheet: Rita Mae Brown, Equitainment * Rita Mae Brown Official website. ;Etc. * Rita Mae Brown's papers are at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Category:1944 births Category:Living people Category:American feminist writers Category:American mystery writers Category:American novelists Category:American poets Category:American screenwriters Category:American women writers Category:Lesbian writers Category:Lesbian feminists Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT screenwriters Category:LGBT writers from the United States Category:People from Hanover, Pennsylvania Category:University of Florida alumni Category:Women screenwriters Category:School of Visual Arts alumni Category:New York University alumni Category:Union Institute & University alumni Category:Fort Lauderdale High School alumni Category:Feminist poets